For five years, Junior Achievement of Western Pennsylvania has honored outstanding young people in the area through its “18 Under Eighteen” program.

Applicants are nominated by people in their community and are selected through an extensive interview process. The 18 honorees — all younger than 18 years of age — are then paired with a professional coach for two months of development training, along with mentorship and leadership that follows them into their professional careers. The youngest honoree is 11 years old.

“A part of their journey is their first stop is with us, and we like to say we like to discover the stars and then, through that, they become a star,” said Patrice Matamoros, Junior Achievement regional president. “Some have written books, others have started their own nonprofits, they own and are [operating] functioning business organizations. It’s just really great.”

“They learn tips, tools and strategies that help them in a way that is absolutely incredible because most adults don’t get this type of professional coaching until they are an executive,” said BeNeca Ward, CEO of Moment to Focus and a Junior Achievement alumna. “It’s a mentorship, a leadership, a resource hub that we have prepared and are excited to share.”

Reese Sequite, a junior at Butler High School, is one of the 18 honorees and was nominated by a family friend for whom she babysat. She runs a program at her local YMCA where she teaches swimmers — ages 5 to 18 — who have disabilities.

“I remember looking into it and thinking, ‘I don’t know if this is … if I’ll get in, or what this is even about,’” she said. “But then, I interviewed and got accepted, and it’s been amazing. It’s been an amazing journey.”

Sequite has already completed a summer program with Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, but her plans for her college education are still unknown. 

“I’m hoping to go to college in an area that has a lot of need, so I can continue volunteering, creating programs that have a large, tangible scale impact,” she said. “Just continue making an impact, continue being positive, continue being me.”

Patricia Rae Shanahan is a senior at North Allegheny High School, and through her initiative, “Heart and Hem,” she designs and sells clothes with the proceeds benefiting survivors of domestic violence in the Pittsburgh area. She says her mission is to turn fashion into a force for good.

“This experience has been amazing,” Shanahan said. “I have learned so much about myself, and I love the community that I’ve been surrounded with peers who are similar-minded as me, and who are passionate and driven to do great things for their community, and it’s been really, truly special.”

Shanahan plans to attend an undergraduate university after high school and study both biology and gender studies in an effort to help address issues like inequity in women’s health.

“Women’s health care is a very, very under-researched and under-developed field, and a lot of times women are stripped of their bodily autonomy when it comes to practices in women’s health care,” she said.

Program organizers say the honorees already have impressive resumes at young ages, but they’re being prepared for future success long into adulthood.

“It’s not just a one-time acknowledgement,” said Ward. “It’s them being seated into the work that we’re doing and making sure they have resources for life.”

Shanahan believes her hard work through “Heart and Hem” — along with her passion and optimism — has reaped this opportunity, but she also appreciates the potential this program gives her to further pursue her dreams.

“I want to tell anyone to embody that positivity, embody that optimism, and embody that mindset and so they can do similar things because everything’s possible,” she said.